


Jack's Soulmate

by DarkenedHeart



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: "Cairo", A small look into Little Jack's life, AU, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternating POV?, Amazing!Mac, Angst?, Bad guys, Blowing MANY things up..., Danger, First Meetings, I need help Tagging..., I'll have to come back later to Tag, Jack's Mother - Freeform, M/M, Missions, Soulmates, There just aren't enough yet..., Thornton is a wonderful person., Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 10:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8620354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkenedHeart/pseuds/DarkenedHeart
Summary: With each progressed year, the ability for humans to recognize their soulmates had decreased dramatically. Now, even the term 'soulmate' is archaic to the English language and mostly contained in romantic novels. But, as with all things, there is an exception. --- - --- -- --- - ---My take on a Soulmate AU.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Since this was an AU, I took the liberty of adjusting the characters' ages.....

With each progressive year, the ability for humans to recognize their soulmates had decreased dramatically. Now, even the term 'soulmate' is archaic to the English language and mostly contained in romantic novels. Simple touches no longer trigger any recognition. The only way a person can even guess if they have come across their soulmate is through the swapping of saliva during deep kissing. It has gotten to such a point, that people have separated themselves in their beliefs of greeting. Some refuse to kiss at all, not wanting to disillusion themselves from a love they have found when it becomes apparent the one they are with is not their soulmate. Others, in a completely opposite fashion, greet people they are interested in with a passionate kiss. 

As with all things, there is an exception. Jack was born with a mark on his right wrist. The doctors called it a birth mark, but his mother knew better. She had only ever heard rumors of them and read about their existence in history books, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was a soulmate mark.

"What a lucky boy you are," Mrs. Dalton would coo to her little boy whenever she saw it. "You will be able to find your soulmate much easier now."

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Unfortunately, being an exception doesn't mean that things will be easier for you. Jack didn't understand what the strange shape on his wrist was until he went to school and his teacher had accidentally dropped a bowl of silver metal pieces onto the ground. As five-year-old Jack helped the woman pick up all the oval shaped pieces, his shirt sleeve happened to move up and he compared the object to the shape.

They were the same. 

Curious, young Jack lifted one of the metal pieces up towards his teacher to ask, "Ma'am, what are these?"

The woman paused her sweeping motions to look at the object in question. Then with a smile, she answered, "That's a paper clip, Jack."

"What are they for?" the young boy asked next.

"Mostly keeping papers together," his teacher answered as she returned her attention to cleaning up the rest of them. "But I suppose you could do a lot of things with them if you really put your mind to it."

"Oh..." Jack looked down at the small piece of metal as he held it against his mark. He knew what the shape was now, but that still didn't tell him anything about the wonderful person his mother kept telling him the mark would lead him to.

The little boy looks back up at his teacher as the woman gets to her feet with most of the paper clips back in the bowl. 

He can only think of one reason he'd have the mark, so he asks, "Is there a paper clip making job?"

His teacher laughs and the bell rings for the students to go to lunch. Jack never got his answer, but he assumed there had to be a job to make the tiny shaped things. How else could people have them?

Jack spent his entire kindergarten free time asking other children if they were going to make paperclips when they got older. It got him laughed at and occasionally picked on, but the brunette didn't mind. To him, it was an important question.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

When Jack was ten years old, he started wearing sweat bands to cover his mark. No one else had a mark like him and he didn't enjoy being the 'odd ball out' anymore. When he was five it didn't matter. Other kids were still eating paste at that age. But when he got to the double digits, suddenly what you said, wore, did, hung out with, meant a lot to other people. So it meant a little more to Jack too.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

At age thirteen, Jack fell hard for a blonde girl who sat two seats in front of him. He did everything he could for her, carried her books, gave her his desert, brought her flowers for every single holiday regardless of what it was, and then eventually worked up enough courage to ask her out.

She accepted and they dated for a week. 

 

Behind the bleachers during a game where their school's team was losing terribly, Jack kissed her.

It was his fist kiss, but not his crush's. The teenage girl practically tried to eat his face off as she kissed Jack deeply and the brunette was breathless by the time they broke away.

He was smiling from ear to ear, but his girlfriend was frowning.

"Sorry," she had said with a pout. "Looks like we're not meant to be."

Then she walked off, completely ignoring Jack's attempts to call out to her. 

After that, she would be polite around Jack, but she made it painfully clear that their relationship was definitely over. Jack didn't understand why, a fact he brought up to her, but she just shook her head in a pitying way before making her escape from him.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Jack tried dating other women as he went through High School. Each new girl ended with only him calling it quits on two occations.

Once because the girl was only using him to have a reason to be around his neighbor and the other because the girl had an aversion to touching.

Jack couldn't live his life without being able to touch the person he loved. He needed physical contact like a drug. 

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Right after his High School graduation, Jack decided to sign up with the military. 

His mother was completely against the idea.

"What if you die out there before meeting your soulmate?" she had asked him as he packed up his things. "You are so special, Jack. Your soulmate is going to be equally as amazing, I know it. Why risk losing out on that while trying to kill yourself at the same time?"

"I'm not joining to get myself killed, Mom," Jack rolled his eyes at his mother's theatrics. "And thanks for sounding more concerned about someone who may or may not be out there 'waiting for me' instead of worrying about me. You know. Your son."

Mrs. Dalton wrapped her arms around her son, stopping the young man from packing the socks gathered up in his hands.

"I love you with all my heart, Jack," the woman told her son, her head resting against his back. "You are my light. I can't imagine life without you."

Jack drops the socks to reach up and cover his mother's hands with his own.

"I love you too, Mom," he tells her softly. "I'm going to be fine. Trust me. I'll be the young punk everyone kicks around. I probably won't even see combat for a few years."

Mrs. Dalton tightens her hold on her boy.

"I hope you never see combat."

\- - -

At the Dalton family gathering, Jack's father gives him a leather strap bracelet to wear. 

"I know you're not ashamed of your mark," the older Mr. Dalton remarks seriously as his son looks the present over. "I'm not either. But I figured you might not want to display it all the time."

Jack smiles at his father, grateful for the man's support and understanding.

"Thanks, Dad."

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

At age 21, while being pinned down behind a hill with three other guys from his platoon, Jack's mark starts burning.

It's so sudden and intense, that Jack shouts out in pain while trying to shake the feeling from his wrist.

"You hit, Dalton?" one of the soldiers calls out over the sounds of gunfire.

"No!" Jack shouts back, gripping his wrist tightly as the burning turns to throbbing. The mark had never affected Jack in any way. It didn't tingle, it didn't itch, and it certainly didn't burn or throb. He looks over to his fellow soldiers and wonders if it was reacting to one of them.

Then a new round of bullets spray over their heads and he turns his focus on staying alive.

\- - -

They all get out of the ambush without any serious injuries. They're all exhausted as they tread slowly into camp. 

 

Later, Jack is drinking with his fellow soldiers, coming to terms with something he never thought of before.

'Could his soulmate be a guy?'

The other men in his group were all married. Happily or not wasn't important to Jack. He wasn't about to tear a marriage apart for the sake of some sort of assumed 'destiny' so he remains quiet.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Jack stays with the military for seventeen long years, working with different branches while gaining and losing friendships.

Then he goes back home.

In all that time, the burning sensation doesn't happen again.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

The Department of External Services meet up with Jack before he can make it to his parents house. They offer him a job with a pay raise and the promise of furthering his assistance for his country.

Jack accepts, then goes home and has dinner with his mom and dad.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Jack enters the DXS on his 39th Birthday, expecting to find a grouchy old general waiting to order him around on missions. 

He's pleasantly surprised when a gorgeous woman offers him her hand and introduces herself as, "Patricia Thornton. Your new boss."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Thornton," Jack grins as they shake. "I'm Jack Dalton, though I'm sure you already knew that."

"Yes," the woman nods. "You're meeting your partner today as well."

"Partner?" the brunette repeats with interest. "That wasn't in the brochure. Are we talking a deadly looker? Or a senior citizen?"

Thornton looks at the new agent with surprise, "It amazes me that you've kept that sort of attitude after being in the military for so long, Dalton."

"You can shout at a guy for however long you want," Jack shrugs. "Doesn't mean he becomes some sort of Robocop in the end."

"True," the woman allows with a upward quirk of the lips. She guides the man towards a meeting room. "How did you like your DXS training?" 

"The combat part was easy," Jack answers with a small laugh. "Been in it long enough that I didn't need much training at all. It was mostly all the technical mumbo jumbo and spy tactics that tripped me up."

"Well," Thornton motions for the agent to step into the room first, and he does so. "You'll mostly be the 'muscle' for the missions, so I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not you can tell if a mark is lying."

"Right, because if it ends up they're playing us, I can just shoot them," Jack jokes as he takes a free chair at the conference table. He looks around at the empty chairs as he swivels back and forth slightly. "Is it always this empty in here? Or is my arrival something special?"

"It wouldn't make much sense to have a room full of people who aren't part of your team," Thornton answers as she checks her phone. "Your partner has just arrived. He'll be here in a few moments."

"Good," Jack nods a few times, still turning side to side to take in the room. He was secretly excited to be starting a new form of work with another person. He had fought with fellow soldiers, sure, but that was more of a group thing. Never a one-on-one partnership. 

 

A blonde kid steps into the room with a great big smile as he reaches for Thornton's hand.

"Thornton is it?" the kid asks even as they shake.

"Yes," the woman nods. "You must be Angus MacGyver."

"Mac, please," the blonde keeps smiling as he turns to Jack. "And you must be my new partner."

Jack gets up to shake the offered hand purely out of home-grown manners.

"You mean this ki-AH!" Jack pulls his hand back from Mac's as an electric current shocks him. 

Thornton and Mac frown at the reaction.

"Is there a problem, Dalton?" Thornton asks as the brunette shakes out his hand.

"No-Well, yes," Jack growls as he holds onto his injured hand. "This kid you've got me partnered up with just gave me a buzz button handshake!"

"No I didn't!" Mac defends himself, lifting his hands for the other two to see they were empty. He lowers them as he focuses on his new partner. "It must have been a result of static electricity. I'm sorry, Dalton."

"Static electricity," Jack scoffs. "What did you do? Walk around your carpet at home with wool socks before coming here?"

"I said I was sorry," the blonde repeats. "What more do you want from me?"

"About ten more years of growth," the brunette grumbles as the aftershocks finally wear off. "Jeez, dude. How old are you?"

"Eighteen," Mac answers.

"He ain't even legal yet," Jack sighs to no one in particular.

Thornton clears her throat.

"This better not be an issue, Dalton," the woman tells him. "Because I don't have time to care about your feelings over who your partner is. You leave for your first mission in ten minutes. I expect the two of you to get acquainted well enough not to shoot each other while I prepare your mission packet."

Thornton leaves without waiting to hear protests or agreements from the two men.

 

Jack walks away from his new partner as he examines his hand. 

'Static electricity,' he repeated sarcastically in his head. 'Yeah, right.'

 

"Dalton?" Mac's voice speaks up after a minute of silence.

"Jack."

"What?"

The brunette turns to the blonde, "Call me Jack. If we're going to be partners, you should call me by my first name."

"Oh, thanks," the younger man smiles. "But, can you call me Mac? I hate my first name."

Jack chuckles as he puts his hands on his hips, "I can understand that. What were your parents thinking? I mean, Angus? Really?"

Mac rolls his eyes, "Tell me about it."

The two fall into an easy conversation about ridiculous things adults did when they were kids until Thornton returns to tell them it's time to go.

\- - -

The mission is fairly simple, no doubt because it was to be their first one as a newly formed team. They just had to bring a scientist from point A to point B. They didn't even have to leave scientist's country. They just had to cross over territory borders.

What could be easier?

 

"Get your head down, you idiot!" Jack grabs hold of Mac's belt to yank the younger man into the jeep that the brunette was driving far too quickly down a dirt road. 

It turned out that there were three main territories in the small country and they were all fighting over the scientist like spoiled children over the best toy.

The scientist decided he wanted to make more peaceful inventions, like water purifiers and naturally powered generators, instead of bigger guns so he decided to switch from the more militant territory to be with the 'save the planet' territory.

Problem was, the military territory wasn't about to let him go willingly and the third territory just thought they were being left out and was attacking so no one would spurn their might or existence.

So, Jack was driving recklessly down an unknown dirt road towards what he desperately hoped was the right territory while the scientist cowered on the floor of the back and Mac kept twisting his body around in his chair to see how their pursuers were faring.

Their pursuers who were at least a dozen matching jeeps, armed to the teeth with guns and men.

"Jack!" Mac looks behind the brunette. "Can you hand me the fire extinguisher behind you?"

"Oh, sure!" Jack replies sarcastically as he does no such thing. "Because fire safety is my number one priority right now!"

"Never mind," the blonde reaches over and gets the red canister himself. Mac pulls out a Swiss army knife and uses it to cut strips of his shirt off to wrap around the extinguisher's handle. Then he puts something in his mouth and bites down on it.

"What the heck at you doing, kid?" Jack shouts as he turns the vehicle sharply to the right to get around a blockade. He pulls his weapon from his side and fires off a few shots at the guards as he gets around the obstruction to continue on down the terrible road.

Mac pulls the thing from his mouth and removes the extinguisher nozzle before shoving the thing into the hole. Then he ties a few strips of cloth to keep it in place and he turns once more in his chair.

"I told you to keep your head down!" Jack shouts as more bullets fly past them. "You can NOT die on our first mission together!"

"Relax!" Mac says easily as he pulls the extinguisher's pin. He waits a few moments, then throws the canister.

The extinguisher lands on the ground as the enemy vehicles quickly approach. Then it explodes, sending the other jeeps in all different directions as they try to avoid the white spray fountain.

Jack whoops as he watches the action from his rear view mirror and his partner sits back down.

"I have no idea what you just did, but I loved it!" the brunette smiles at the blonde. "I know why they put us together now."

"Oh?" Mac asks, as he checks the mirrors to see if their enemy was following them again yet. 

"Yeah," Jack laughs. "I'm the muscle and you're the brains! Which is good, because I hated the written exam part of training."

Mac laughs along with the older man as they speed further into the new territory.

 

The two agents get the scientist to his destination, shaken but, without a scratch.

Jack didn't know the country's dialect, but he was fairly certain the man was cursing him out as he was guided away from the jeep.

\- - -

On the plane ride back, Mac opens up to Jack about his experiences in making ordinary things go beyond their potential.

At least, that's how Jack viewed it while his partner talked about all the things he did.

"So, wait," Jack interrupts the man when he stops to breathe. "What did you bite down on and shove into the extinguisher's hole?"

"Oh," Mac reaches into his pocket and pulls out a paperclip. "One of these. Handy little things, paperclips. I once spent an entire year cataloguing how man things I could do with them."

Jack tries to casually look away as his left hand covers his leather-clad right wrist.

It was ridiculous, when he thought about it, how one compound word could make him feel nervous and awkward like a child.

"You okay, Jack?"

The brunette looks over to his partner. Mac is staring at him in concern, the paper clip partially unwrapped from its natural form between the fingers of his two hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jack assures him with a large grin. "Just got lost on a trail of thought there for a minute. What'cha doing with that thing?"

Mac looks down at his hands and shrugs, "Guess I got a little lost too. Didn't even realize I was playing with it."

The blonde finishes twisting the metal in his hands and offers it to his partner. Jack takes it with a smirk as he realizes it's shaped vaguely like a fire extinguisher.

"You know what?" the brunette says as he lifts the shape to eye level. "If this spy business doesn't work out for you, modern art people would go crazy over this."

Mac chuckles as he leans back in his chair with a shake of his head. Jack leans back too, feeling relaxed as he holds the small piece of metal in his hand.

He puts the paperclip in his chest pocket, right over his heart, then dozes off.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Jack works with Mac for two years, then they go to Cairo.

Cairo was a very, very bad idea and Jack and Mac vowed not to make mention of it ever again.

It did, however, bring about one good thing...

\- - -

The mission of Cairo was to gain intel on a dangerous faction and bring it to its knees before it could really get started. Mac was going to infiltrate the main headquarters to wirelessly send all their information back to DXS headquarters while Jack watches his back. Nothing new to the partners in the slightest.

But when Mac got into the room, he discovered that all the group's information wasn't on a computer at all. Everything was on paper, so they had to physically destroy it. Which meant an inferno in the center of a complex filled with bad guys who would kill them on sight.

Neither agent was very fluent in what the faction members were speaking, further complicating things when they tried to form a plan to destroy everything and escape.

"Just burn it all," Jack tells Mac after the blonde tried to brainstorm the best options. "We set this whole place ablaze, the weapons cache they've got will do most of the work for us. It'll take them years to get half of what they have back."

"You're right," Mac admits as he starts checking the place over for an accelerant. "But if we don't make the fire strong enough, or start enough around the compound, there's no way those weapons will be destroyed."

"Fine," Jack sighs, putting his ear to the door to see if anyone was passing. When there's nothing, he turns back to his partner, "I'll go pull a few pins in the grenade boxes. You get this place going. We'll meet where we came in."

"Pull a few pins? Jack that's too dangerous," Mac hisses, putting a hand on the other man's shoulder to stop him.

"Letting these guys keep one too many weapons is far more dangerous," Jack replies. "You think you can conjure up something to destroy this place, or you need me to bring back a souvenir?"

Mac's eyes dart around the room, taking in at least three things that will aid him in starting a strong enough fire before turning back to his partner, "I've got this."

"Good," the brunette nods to him as he grabs the doorknob. "Because if you can't get this place going, the mission's failure will be your fault."

"No pressure," Mac rolls his eyes as Jack exits the room.

 

Jack sneaks to the place with all the weapons and smirks as he passes the guard who's fast asleep at the door. 

Once inside, he helps himself to a spare clip of bullets and a grenade before finding some string and tying it to a row of grenades. He sets the grenades up in a line, readying himself to pull all the pins at once and making a mad dash for the door, when he feels the cool metal of a barrel being pressed against the back of his neck.

"Up," a voice from behind him orders gruffly. 

Jack lifts his hands and does as ordered. 

The brunette is taken by the collar and dragged out of the room and to the center of the compound. Mac is already there, half of his face bloody as he kneels at the faction leader's feet.

"I take it you didn't get your little project completed in time?" Jack asks right before he's shoved to the ground next to his partner. He looks up to the shover and shouts, "Hey!"

The man hits Jack hard across the jaw and the agent puts his hands out to catch himself from face planting in the dirt.

"You are very ingenious," the leader compliments them as Jack straightens. He lifts up two bottles taped together as he scrutinizes it. Jack can only assume it's what Mac was working on to start the fire.

"Tell me," the leader continues as he stares at the thing in his hands. "What was this supposed to do? These chemicals are harmless. Were your intentions to dampen my papers?"

"Seems like you've got it all figured out," Jack shrugs. He looks over to Mac, "Looks like we're busted, man. Better call it a day."

Jack gets hit again and he catches himself once more.

"You, I think, are the dumb one," the leader frowns as Jack gets up again. He looks to his man closest to the agent. "Did you search him?"

The man moves to grab at Jack, but the brunette is ahead of him. After the second trip to the ground, Jack had managed to get the grenade out of his pocket. He pulls the pin an drops it into the center of the group.

They scatter like bugs as Jack grabs hold of Mac and drags him to safety.

 

The grenade explodes, sending everyone to the ground with the force of it. 

Jack doesn't stay down for long, though. He's on his feet first, dragging Mac up and away as the enemy shouts and struggles to chase after them.

 

Even though Jack could get his feet under himself, he was still too disoriented to know where he was going. He tried to bring them back to the weapons cache, but ends up guiding them to room with the papers in it.

Jack curses as he slams the door closed and locks it. Bullets shoot through the door, sending the agents to their stomachs on the ground.

"What happened, Mac?" Jack asks as he scrawls over to a filing cabinet. He rises, pushing against it until it falls over to block the door, then he gets back down to crawl to the other side of the room to knock down another one.

"I was about to finish when I was found," Mac grinds out, following his partner to help him push the second cabinet onto the first. "What about you?"

With a short growl, Jack heaves enough to get the cabinet to fall onto the other. He looks down at his partner and grimaces, "Got caught off guard from behind. Sorry, Mac."

Mac blinks up, surprised, at the other man, "You're sorry?"

"Yeah," Jack sighs, going for the third and final cabinet to finish blocking the door. "Shouldn't have left you alone. I got too cocky, I guess. Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Jack," Mac huffs as he helps the other man get he heavy object onto the other two.

They fall silent for a moment as they heave the last cabinet up and slide it into place.

Jack greedily heaves in air as he rests against the barricade.

The bullets are still firing, clanging loudly against the metal as they fly through the holes in the door.

"That won't hold them for long," Mac points out the obvious as he gets to his feet. "We've got to find another way out."

Jack snorts, "You and I both know we're in a room with only one way in or out. Unless?" the brunette pushes off the cabinets to stand as well. "Can you use these papers to origami us a magic door out of here? Because that would totally be cool and wickedly awesome at the same time."

"Never was much into origami," the blonde answers idly as he searches the room to see what he was working with. "The shapes were far too easy to damage. If I spend hours on something, I want it to last."

As Mac continues to search the small room, Jack's left hand wraps around his right wrist. Ever since he met the kid, he couldn't help but wonder...'What if Mac was my soulmate?' 

But every time Jack thought about it, he shook it off as an impossibility. Mac was 21 years younger than he was; young enough to be his son. There's no way the 'universe' or whatever would hitch the kid to him. Mac was going to find someone more deserving. Jack knew it.

The brunette sighs as he rubs a hand over his face.

Of course, that was if he could get them out of this mess.

"Okay," Mac speaks up, as he looks over the things he's gathered on the desk in the center of the room. "I think I may be able to salvage this mission and get us out of here at the same time."

"Great," Jack claps his hands together. "What's the plan?"

"I set this place on fire, then when it gets hot enough, we move the cabinets and the rush of oxygen will enhance the flames, pushing the men outside back and allowing us a chance to make a run for it."

"By 'enhance the flames' do you mean some sort of explosion?"

"A minor one."

"How minor, Mac?"

The blonde sighs without an answer, so Jack repeats his question.

"How minor a ka-boom we talking about, Mac?"

"Enough to knock us on our backs with a chance of third degree burns or a concussion."

Jack steps over to the metal cabinets to kick at them. The round of bullets that follow are like a mock reply to the agent's frustration.

"Fine," the brunette allows with an angry huff. "We move the top cabinet to lighten the load, then I push the other two towards you so that you can be protected enough."

"You're going to need my help to move them, Jack," Mac points out.

"Not if I make a slippery slope," his partner counters. He grabs the a bottle of hand sanitizer. "I squirt this all over the floors, get it under the surface of those boxes, they'll slide wherever I want them."

"How do you know that?" the blonde asks, impressed.

"If ice can make a two ton semi glide across the ground like a feather, why can't slimy stuff move a metal box?" Jack answers with a grin. "Now," he puts a hand on his partner's shoulder. "You get to work setting things on fire. I'll start on part two."

As Mac pushes the desk to the corner and starts piling papers to start the fire, Jack clears the floor. 

Once the flames start, the brunette takes off the first cabinet and empties its contents towards the flames.

The room quickly starts to fill with smoke, the dark clouds only escape being the bullet holes exposed in the door.

Their enemy had stopped firing at them for a while, but as the flames grew and Jack started to coat the floor with the sanitizer, the agents could hear shouting and new shots were being fired into the room.

"Now," Jack has to stop to cough, and he pulls his shirt up to cover his face. He points to his partner. "You stay there. We'll see if your oxygen theory will work out."

Mac ignores the other man as he steps around the puddle to stand beside his partner.

"Dumb kid!" the older agent growls. "I told you to-!"

"Hurry up and help me push this!" Mac interrupts the scolding as he starts to push.

With a growl, Jack adds his own strength and the cabinets slide away with their combined effort.

Someone on the other end opens the door and the fire rushes forwards as if it were a caged animal being released. Jack throws himself over Mac, covering the younger man's body with his own as the intense heat rushes passed them. 

 

The second it eases, Jack once again is pushing himself to his feet, dragging Mac upwards as best he can while blindly heading towards where the door was last.

Two steps away from the billowing smoke, the pain catches up to Jack and his steps falter as he falls to the ground with a muffled shout of pain.

Mac puts his arm under his partner and hoists him back up, half carrying the other man away from the still billowing room as the enemy swarms around them, shouting and firing randomly.

 

They get away from the building and behind a tent where the faction members slept before Mac has to stop to catch his breath. He eases Jack down to the ground and tries to quickly check him over for injuries.

Jack's back is bare, the shirt burned away in a jagged circle. The skin is an dark red color with black smudges in some places. The rest of the agent's shirt hangs loosely on his front and at his arms, the collar keeping it from falling off the older man completely.

"...me..." Jack is trying to mumble something to his partner, so Mac leans down to hear better. "Leave...me...Go..."

"Not gonna happen, Jack," Mac says furiously, angry his partner would ask him to do something like that.

"Hard to...walk..." the brunette winces as he reaches for his gun. The weapon is still intact and he smiles at it like an old friend. "L'be fine."

"I am not leaving you here, so stop asking me to!" the blonde snaps. He looks at the gun in the man's hand and shudders at it before glancing around the corner to see if anyone had spotted them yet. The faction members are still foolishly trying to put out the fire. Mac has a decision to make now: leave the bad guys with the weapons and have a small chance at an escape, or try to destroy the weapons and have a less likely chance to escape?

Jack tries to struggle to his feet but Mac pushes him back down.

"Don't move yet. I'm still thinking," the blonde tells the other man.

"Do too much of that," Jack mumbles tiredly. His back is on fire. It feels like the skin could peel off with the lightest of contact, revealing muscle and bones underneath. He pushes himself up once again, this time getting to his feet after batting his partner's hands away with his weapon wielding hand.

"Gonna go back to the cache and take it out," the brunette says as he forces his eyes to focus. "You take off in the op'site way and get back-up."

"You're kidding me, right?" Mac stares at the older man.

"Ne'vr been a se'rus as I'm now," Jack sways when he takes the first step, but he stops, takes in a deep breathe, then takes a sturdier second step before turning to his partner. "I can make it. You gotta get going."

"I told you to stop telling me that."

"Please, Mac," Jack frowns at the other man. Didn't he realize this was the best plan? "I can't leave that ammo here. I gotta take it out. You don't needa be here."

Mac steps forwards, getting into Jack's face as he stares intently into the other man's eyes.

"No," the blonde seethes angrily.

Jack wants nothing more than to pull the kid the rest of the way and give him a kiss. Just to see. Just to know before he died if Mac was his soulmate after all.

But instead, he smiles.

"Fine. Then you're carry'in me 'cause I still can't walk straight."

 

Mac puts Jack's arm across his shoulder as he helps his partner navigate compound.

There's a lot of weaving and ducking, with both men panting as their heart rates spike with each footstep they hear that isn't their own. Smoke pillars in the air towards the sky, giving them a clear marker of where to stay far away from as they find their way back to the place with the weapons.

 

"There," Jack motions to a building with his gun and Mac instantly turns towards the indicated direction.

The guard is no longer asleep, so Jack shoots him. Mac cringes with the noise, his grip on his partner's wrist tightening as he quickens their steps to get into the building faster.

Once inside, Mac rests Jack against a pile of crates before stacking others in the way to barricade the door. 

"Keep getting trapped in rooms," Jack remarks with a light laugh as he watches his partner block another door with more dangerous materials.

"Nothing in these boxes are explosive, at least," Mac remarks as he places the final box down. He looks over to his partner and frowns when he sees the sweat staining the front of the other man's shirt. "How are you doing, Jack?"

'Like if I were to sit down, I'd never get back up.' Jack smiles at the younger man, "Fine. What's the next part of our plan, again?"

Mac knows his partner is lying but he chooses to ignore that fact to access the situation. This building had another exit, a rather large garage door for a truck to come in and load, or unload, supplies. 

Mac finds Jack's string of grenades from earlier and puts them out of the way to check the rest of the room. There are guns, bullets, more grenades, and a few rocket launchers, but no form of transport.

The door handle jiggles as someone shouts at the other end and Jack turns his head towards it.

"I think hide-and-go-seek is ending," the brunette calls over to his partner. 

Mac looks back at the rocket launchers and smiles. "I've got a plan." 

 

As their enemy moves around outside, Mac sets up two launchers to point at either end of the building. He has the grenades wrapped around his chest in a loose circle with the string and Jack waiting in the corner looking more and more frightened by the minute.

"Why'd'we keep blowin' things up?" the brunette remarks as more angry voices join the ones outside. "I mean, ser'sly. How many as'plosions in just one day does this make for us?"

Mac shrugs as he continues to set up his double fire. "Just two for today, not counting the grenade you threw. What does it matter?"

"I think we need ta work on less des'truck'tve solu'shuns to our mishins," Jack muses. "Then 'gain, our first mishin ta'gethr had as'plosion in it too. Maybe it's our theme? Blow-it-up bros?"

The blonde looks over to his partner as he finishes his work and curses. Jack's pupils are blown wide. The man is most likely suffering from a concussion on top of his other injuries. 

A buzzing hums throughout the room as the garage door starts to open.

"Comp'ny's comin," Jack remarks as he raises his gun to waver towards the opening door. "I got 'em."

Mac steps away and pulls the string, firing off both rockets at once and making two separate openings.

 

The blonde agent crouches down low as the force from the explosion shakes his body and dust clouds his vision.

Mac is moving before his body is ready for it, finding Jack crumpled on the ground and pulling the man to his feet as fast as he can.

"Come on, Jack!" the blonde hisses as he tries to get his partner to stand on his own.

"Jus restin," the other man mumbles, his hand remarkably still holding onto his weapon. "Haya, Mac?"

Mac gives up trying to get Jack to walk and just drags the man out the hole he made. 

"Mac?"

"Yeah, Jack," Mac grunts as he gets one foot out the hole, then the other before pulling his partner through.

"Do ya bel'eve in soulmates?"

"Not the best time to talk about that," the blonde lays Jack down on the ground on the other side of the hole then takes off the grenades. "You ready for another explosion?"

"Is'wat we do best, bro," Jack smiles up at him, then grimaces as he rolls away from his aching back to rest on his side instead.

Mac pulls the string with the pins, then throws the grenades into the room with as much strength that he can muster. Without skipping a beat, he throws himself over his partner.

Then the building explodes.

 

Mac's head swims as he pushes himself up off of Jack. He can barely see but he knows he needs to move, get Jack and himself as far from where they were and as quickly as he can.

The blonde agent grabs hold of the tattered remains of his partner's collar and lifts him upwards. Jack's head lolls forwards then snaps up to stare at Mac, confused.

"Wat'cha doin, kid?" the brunette asks as Mac hooks his arms under the older man's to get him to a somewhat standing position.

"Gotta get out of here, Jack," Mac maneuvers himself until he has Jack in a fireman's carry position. Jack is a heavy weight against his shoulders, but the blonde refuses to even think about leaving the man behind. He forces one foot forwards, then the next, eventually reaching a steady tempo he can focus on instead of the weight trying to push him against the earth.

 

Mac focuses on one word, "out". That one, three letter, word keeps his feet moving away from the second smoking building and towards the nearest sand dune. It motivates him over the first pile of sand and up the next. It brings him across who knows how many miles before his body just gives up and he collapses, Jack's body pinning him where he fell like a rock against a piece of paper.

Sand fills Mac's nose as he tries to breathe with his body half buried. Once he takes a moment to collect enough energy, he rolls over, pushing Jack off of himself to rest at the spot next to him instead.

Mac stares up at the dimly lit sky and wonders what time it was. They had gotten into the compound rather late at night, technically early the next day, so since he wasn't seeing any stars, he can only assume dawn had broken and the new day was officially beginning.

Only 'day' meant 'sun' which equaled 'heat'. With no provisions or mode of transport, neither agent would survive in the desert. 

The blonde lets his head slide to the side to look over at his partner. Jack was on his side, eyes closed and breathing as if in deep slumber. Mac knows he has to wake the other man up. If Jack had a concussion, sleeping was dangerous for the other man. He might not wake back up.

"Jack," Mac tries calling to his partner, but his voice is ignored. He raises, "Jack!"

Thankfully, Jack's eyes flutter open. They look around for a second before zeroing in on the blonde.

"You can't sleep, buddy," Mac tells the man as he slowly moves to his side. "You've gotta stay awake until I can get you to a doctor, okay?"

"M'fine," the brunette mumbles, but he keeps his eyes open.

"I know you are," the blonde replies as he sits up. He looks around in a vague hope of trying to get his bearings. "We have to keep moving. Thornton will send someone out to look for us when we don't check in."

"Nah, she won't," Jack mumbles again, blinking slowly up at his partner. "Mac-"

"So help me, Jack, if you try to tell me to leave you again I am going to shoot you with your own gun."

 

The two agents stare each other down for several minutes.

 

Then Jack grins, "Ya hate guns."

"I'd make an exception for you."

"M'honored."

"Don't be."

"Still am."

"Shut up," Mac finally pushes himself back to his feet. "You need the energy for walking."

Jack reaches around for his weapon and finds it partially buried under the sand. It takes a few lazy attempts, but he gets it back in the holster.

The blonde smirks as he watches his friend put his weapon away. 

"How did you hold onto that thing while barely conscious?"

"Is'ma baby."

Mac rolls his eyes as he reaches down for the other man. 

"Come on," he pulls Jack to his feet and takes his position under the other man to support him. "Let's go home."

\- - -

The two agents stumble through the desert for hours. Jack struggles to stay conscious while Mac tries to support both of their bodies while keeping up a steady monologue.

The sun rises above their heads, making it almost impossible to keep going, but Mac digs deep to push himself beyond his limits to do it.

 

A small cluster of cacti has Mac lowering Jack back to the ground and weakly pulling out his pocket knife.

"Thos're pointy," the brunette warns his partner as he watches him look the plant over.

"True," Mac uses the knife to scrape away the plant's natural defense. "But they've also got water, which you need."

"We," Jack corrects his partner.

"Right," the blonde smirks as he grabs hold of the cleared area before slicing at the plant. 

Mac cuts away a limb and brings the stub of it to Jack's lips to suck away the juices. The brunette does without a word, lifting his head up weakly to try and get the plant at the right angle to get every drop. 

When there's nothing left to drink, which doesn't take long at all, Jack lowers his head and waves a finger towards the other man.

"Now you."

Mac hollows out the limb to use as a vessel before stabbing the cactus for even more liquid. Once it stops trickling out, he takes a show of sipping before bringing it back to Jack.

"Your turn."

"Nah," Jack shakes his head. "You."

"I took some," Mac assures him, putting the plant closer to the other man's face. "Now you again."

With a huff, Jack does as ordered and sips a little before pulling back.

"You need more than that, Jack."

The brunette glares up at the younger man.

"I ain't an id'ot."

"You are speech impaired though," Mac tries to joke. Jack glares up at him. The blonde sighs and takes another dramatic sip. He looks pointedly down at the other man, "Happy?"

Jack shakes his head 'no' but he takes another sip when Mac returns the liquid to his lips.

 

For about an hour, the two fight over who has to drink more and Mac takes every drop of moisture from the small cluster.

 

Putting his knife away, Mac sits beside Jack to rest for a moment.

Something shines in the blonde's eyes and he follows the obstruction to the shiny surface of the snaps on his partner's wrist strap. Jack always wore something on his right wrist. Mac had often worried if the man had cut himself there, or if maybe he was hiding an embarrassing tattoo. He looks at the man's half closed eyes and wonders if he would notice if he took a peek...

Mac lets out a quiet laugh as he shakes his head. The sun must be getting to him. He wasn't thinking straight.

Jack hears the laugh and turns his eyes to his partner. The sun was shining behind Mac's head like a halo. It made the brunette smile to think that he had his own personal angel watching over him.

\- - -

"Okay," Mac sighs as he gets to his feet yet again. "I suppose we better-"

An engine roars loudly as a jeep jumps the sand dune and speeds towards them. The blonde agent's eyes widen when he recognizes the leader of the faction sitting in the front seat next to the driver.

The jeep skids to a stop beside the two agents and the third, and final man, in the vehicle jumps out to point his weapon at them.

Mac tenses as he tries to block the third man's view of Jack as the leader slowly gets out of his vehicle and rounds the front to stop in front of them.

"You have done..." the man shakes his head, his jaw clenching tightly under the skin. "A lot," he forces out, "Of damage."

'Not nearly as much as you would had you been allowed to keep those weapons,' Mac thinks, but doesn't say. He can feel his body swaying slightly as he tries to stare down his adversary. The leader looks beyond the blonde when he doesn't get an answer and smiles at the brunette.

"Your friend looks near death," the man comments as he tries to walk around the standing agent. Mac moves to block him and the third man cocks his weapon in a silent threat.

"What power do you think you possess?" the leader asks earnestly. "You are weak, defenseless, without any hope of rescue. The only way to redeem yourself for what you have done is to tell me who sent you."

Mac shakes his head. He wasn't about to tell the man anything.

"What if I promise to save your friend's life?" the man offers. "Or end it?"

The third man takes a step towards Jack.

Mac steps back, trying to keep both men away from his partner.

"You have nothing," the leader reminds him, tired of the young agent's show of bravery. "Tell me who sent you and I will make your friend's death quick."

"No one sent us," Mac lies, eyeing the man with the gun. If he lunged for him, there was a chance that he could get the weapon away from him and defend himself and protect Jack. But, Mac's body trembles, but that would mean he would have to use the weapon.

"I do no believe you,' the leader says. He turns to his man. "Shoot his friend in the leg."

"No!" Mac moves to lunge at the man, but a shot rings out.

The blonde watches in shock as the man with the gun falls backwards with a bleeding hole in his chest.

"Get down!" Jack shouts and Mac throws himself to the ground. 

Five more shots rings out, killing the leader and the driver.

Mac waits for the echoes of the noise to fade away before turning to stare at his partner.

Jack is sitting up, one arm propping up the upper half of his body as his breathing goes in and out raggedly; his gun wielding hand lies weakly on his legs.

The brunette turns to look at his partner.

"Can I sleep now?"

Mac shakes his head.

"Crap," Jack's eyes roll back in his head and he passes out as his partner tries to scramble towards him.

 

Mac leaves the bodies of his enemies in the desert, loads Jack into the jeep, and drives towards civilization.

 

He takes them straight to the hospital, parking the vehicle in the emergency entrance parking lot with just enough strength to put the vehicle in park before letting himself be consumed by darkness.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Mac groans awake to the irritating noise of a steady beeping noise. As his mind clears, he realizes the beeping is his heart monitor. Said monitor beeps erratically as the blonde searches the room for his partner.

A nurse rushes into the room, asking the agent questions in another language.

"Where is my friend?" Mac asks, trying to get up to search for the man himself.

"Here!" the woman says as she moves a curtain out of the way. Jack is lying unconscious on the other bed. He's on his stomach, which is a strange position for someone in a hospital bed. 

The nurse seems to catch her patient's confusion and tries to explain, "His back, bad. We need no lay."

"You're keeping the pressure off the wound so that it will heal?" the blonde hopes the woman can understand English better than she could speak it.

The nurse nods, clearly she did, "Yes! You sleep. Better soon."

Mac nods, eyes locked on the other man as he relaxes back in his own bed.

Residual exhaustion, combined with the small scare, brings him back into the arms of unconsciousness.

\- - -

When Mac wakes again, Thornton is sitting in a chair between the two agents, reading a book. The woman feels the young agent's eyes on her and lifts her focus from the book to look the blonde over.

"You're looking better," Thornton remarks as she marks her place in the book with a piece of paper.

Mac looks over to Jack and frowns when he sees his partner is still asleep.

"It's better for him to be like that, trust me."

The blonde turns back to his boss to ask, "Is his back that bad?"

"Third degree burns, as well as a severe sun burn, plus sand got into the wounds and gave him an infection," Thornton explains in a monotone.

"How long will we have to stay in the hospital?" Mac asks next, moving to sit up straighter in his bed. He felt a lot better now, like he'd just had a really good night's sleep.

"You can leave whenever you're ready," Thornton states. Her eyes glide over to the other agent. "Jack will be here for a week or so. Depends how quickly the doctors can get his infection under control."

"Guess I'll be here for a week too," Mac remarks as he swings his legs over the side of his bed. He felt embarrassed about it, but he had to go to the bathroom. The fluids they were pumping into him were needed but had obvious side affects.

"Bathroom's right there," the blonde's boss points to a small door over her shoulder as she opens her book once more. "Don't mind me. I'll be leaving soon."

Mac pauses in his shuffled trek, realizing after actually putting his feet down how tired he still was.

"You're leaving?" he repeats with concern.

Thornton lifts her eyes over the topmost part of her book, "Just for a little while. I need to inform those above me of your plans to remain at your partner's side. Some of them were hoping to tack you on another mission already."

"I'm not leaving Jack."

"Which is what I'm going to tell them."

Thornton lowers her book again to stare at her agent intently.

"I'm on your side with this, Mac. I wouldn't leave my partner either."

Mac smiles at the woman, not realizing how tense he was feeling as he starts to relax. 

"Thank you, Thornton."

\- - -

When Mac comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Thornton is gone, her book left behind on her chair like a sign promising her return.

The blonde starts to shuffle over to his bed when he stops and changes course to the side of Jack's instead.

His partner's wrists are bare, the medical staff having removed all personal particles of clothing in order to properly treat their patients.

Mac's curiosity rises up in his head like a wild animal as he approaches the other man's right wrist. Jack's arm was facing downwards, naturally, with nothing on the top but there was still the inner part of the wrist being obscured. It wouldn't take much for Mac to turn the wrist just enough to see...

 

The blonde stands next to his partner for several moments, rapidly going over pros and cons of looking while simultaneously coming up with convincing reasons/lies for looking at Jack's wrist.

Curiosity wins out over all and Mac leans over as he gently turns Jack's wrist to see what the man was hiding.

When Mac sees the mark, his heart starts beating faster. His eyes dart up every so often to make sure the other man was still deeply asleep as he tries to get a better look at the mark. The young agent at first thinks it's a tattoo, but when he touches it, he dismisses the possibility. There's no scaring anywhere, from a cut or from a the needle to put the pigment into the skin. 

Jack's skin breaks out in goosebumps and Mac stares in amazement when he realizes it only happens when he touches the mark.

The brunette grumbles something and the blonde freezes. Jack moves his head to face towards the other man, his eyes still closed as he remains asleep.

Mac gently returns the appendage and slowly steps away until he was at a safe distance to walk normally back to his bed.

The mark looked just like a paperclip to Mac, which was a funny coincidence to the blonde. Of all the possible birth marks his partner could get, he ends up with something like that...

The question now was, why was Jack covering it? Was the man self conscious about it? It's not like the mark was particularly ugly. It wasn't even that big.

So why hide it?

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Thornton's visit become a constant at the hospital and she brings Mac books to read or magazines with puzzles to solve.

 

On the third day of their hospital stay, Jack wakes up.

 

"What ran me over?" the brunette groans as he tries to push himself up from his face down position.

"You shouldn't try moving, Jack," Mac says from his partner's side, putting a hand on the man's shoulder to gently keep him down. "Your back is still healing. I don't think you want to extend your stay by jeopardizing the healing process."

Jack huffs as he drops back down the small space he had lifted himself up from. "I just woke up, Mac. Do me a favor and don't use words like 'Jupiter-sizing'."

"You mean jeopardizing."

"Whatever."

Thornton smirks from her chosen spot between the two agents. She marks her book and strides over to Jack's side, Mac moving out of the way to give her room.

"How are you feeling, Dalton?"

"Like ma mouth is made'a sandpaper," the brunette grumbles.

"I'll go get you a bottle of water then," the woman replies, nodding to Mac before walking out of the room.

 

"She been here the whole time?" Jack asks after Thornton's steps are no longer heard.

"As much as she could be, yes," Mac answers, leaning against the small bedside table since the only chair in the room was his boss's. "What does your back feel like?" 

"Roadkill."

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Only when I feel it."

"Do you want me to have Thornton get your doctor? Maybe they can up your painkillers."

"Nah," Jack adjusts his pillow so that he can partially look up at the blonde. "How about you? You okay?"

"I'm alive," Mac smiles down at his partner. "Thanks to you."

"It's my job," the brunette brushes off the gratitude as he adjusts the pillow again. He curses, "I hate sleeping completely on my stomach. Makes my ribs hurt."

"Wait," Mac goes to his bed and takes the pillow off to bring to the other man. "I'll use this to cushion your ribs. Can you roll over for a second?"

Jack nods, then moves over until there's enough room for his partner to put the pillow under him.

"Okay, roll back now."

The brunette does with a appreciative sigh.

"Thanks, Mac. That's much better."

Thornton arrives then with a bottle of water and a straw. She hands them to Mac who sets them up to hold for Jack.

Jack takes a few long gulps, then pulls his head back and shakes his head, "All full for now."

"Let me know if you want more," Mac says as he puts the cap on over the straw and puts it off to the side.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

Jack's back heals faster than the doctors expected it to and they tell the agents the man can leave three days early.

"He should still take it easy," the doctor who was giving out the good new continues. "We'll be sending him home with a balm and bandages which he should use for another week before trying to treat his back like normal. The skin will still be extremely tender, so try to avoid rough roads while traveling."

"Thanks, Doc!" Jack lifts up a hand to wave at the man.

"Have a good day," the doctor nods to all the occupants in turn before leaving.

"So," Thornton smiles at her agents. "Looks like we'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I'll book us a flight and get Jack some fresh clothes."

"Thanks, Thornton," Mac smiles. His boss had already brought clean clothes for the blonde shortly after he was well enough to be out of bed.

The woman leaves to make the arrangements, leaving the two men alone.

'Just one more day,' Mac bites his lower lip as he glances over at his partner. Jack was staring at the tag of his pillow as he batted at it.

 

Jack could feel Mac's eyes on him even as he tried to ignore the kid. Ever since he woke in the hospital, he felt a pull towards the blonde that he never felt before. His mark had tingled whenever Mac touched him, further confusing the brunette. It never reacted like that. It hadn't done anything since that one time when it burned.

So why was it acting strangely around Mac?

Jack refused to think that the kid was his soulmate. It was impossible. He convinced himself that the drugs they had him on was the reason. 

 

Mac lets out a defeated sigh as he moves to get in his partner's line of sight.

"Jack?" he asks, worry making his voice low. He crosses his arms and forces himself to 'man up'. He wasn't a child. 

The brunette cranes his neck to look up at the blonde, "What's up, bud?"

"I have a...confession to make," Mac clears his throat as his cheeks flush. Why was he acting like this? It wasn't that big a deal. Jack couldn't really blame him for being curious...could he?

"You took money out of my wallet while I was out of it, didn't you?" Jack jokes with a grin. "That's fine, kid. You can just buy me dinner when we get back home."

Desperate to just get it out in the open, Mac blurts, "I looked at your wrist while you were sleeping and saw your birthmark."

Jack's grin falters as he stares up at his partner. 

The heat feels like it's risen twenty more degrees as Mac nervously waits for the other man to speak.

When Jack doesn't, Mac starts apologizing, "I'm sorry, Jack. I was just so curious as to why you always wore bracelets. I thought you might be covering up a scar or tattoo. I didn't expect to see a birthmark. It's not even ugly or anything. In fact," he huffs out a nervous laugh as the other man's expression goes serious. "It sort of looks like a paperclip to me. It's probably just me, but that's what it looks like."

Jack pulls his right wrist in and holds it under his chest as he ducks his head in and away from the other man.

Mac's confusion builds with his embarrassment as his partner tries to ball himself up as much as he can on the hospital bed.

The blonde curses in his head as he runs a hand through his hair.

'You really did it this time, genius,' Mac scolds himself as Jack continues to remain silent. 'Now Jack's angry at you and you don't even know why!'

Mac is saved from his disparaging thoughts when Thornton returns to the room to inform them everything is set.

 

Jack remains silent for the rest of his hospital stay and the entire process of returning to the States. 

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

When the man is brought to the DXS medical area to be checked over, Thornton takes Mac aside.

"What happened between you two when I stepped out of the room?" the woman asks the younger agent.

"I don't know," Mac shrugs with the lie. He doesn't want anyone else to give Jack a hard time about his mark. Especially not now that he knows how sensitive his partner was about it.

Thornton narrows her eyes at the blonde, her expression telling the agent that she didn't believe him at all.

But Mac doesn't break under the pressure of her gaze, and the woman eventually releases him to, "Bring your partner home and patch things up with him."

Mac nods, following after Jack when the man walks out of medical.

\- - -

The two agents ride in a taxi silently as it takes them to Jack's apartment. The brunette gets out, moving to close the door so that his partner can go home as well, but Mac stops the action with his foot, hands the driver some money, and chases after Jack when he starts walking away from the vehicle.

"Jack!" Mac calls after the man, jogging to catch up as he gets to the front door. "Come on, man! We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Jack states, unlocking the door and opening it before turning back to his partner. "I'll see you on our next mission. Get some rest."

When Jack goes through his front door, Mac slides in with him, which visually irritates the brunette.

"I'm tired, Mac," Jack growls lowly. "Go home."

"I'll go home after we talk about this," the blonde counters seriously. He drops his shoulders as his partner glares at him. "Please, Jack. I want you to tell me what's wrong. Are you angry at me for looking at your wrist? I said I was sorry. I AM sorry! I let my curiosity get the better of me. I wish I had something to show you to make us even, but I don't."

Jack's left hand twitches to wrap around his right wrist. The leather strap had been destroyed, so his mark was exposed. He hated how angry he felt at Mac. The kid had no way of knowing. He was standing in front of Jack begging TO know. 

The brunette sighs, buckling under the pressure to hide his mark as he looks down at the floor.

"I suppose," Jack starts, then sighs again. "I suppose if we're going to be partners...You should know as much about me as you can."

Jack lifts his head to jerk it towards his kitchen. "Come on. I need a beer and I think there's a soda in there for you if you want."

 

The brunette leads his partner to the kitchen stools, getting them both a cold drink from his fridge before sitting down next to the younger man and putting his wrist out on display between them.

Mac looks down at the mark, getting a better look than he had at the hospital and definitively deciding that the shape was that of a paperclip.

"I was born with this," Jack starts, his other hand holding onto his opened beer. "The docs called it a birthmark but my mother is convinced that it's a soulmate mark."

The younger agent's head snaps up in surprise as he gapes at his partner.

Jack nods, "Yeah. Things like that don't happen anymore but my mother was sure of it, so I believed it too."

Jack takes a swig before continuing as his partner lets the information sink in. "It doesn't usually do much, the mark. One time, a few years into my stint with the military, it burned like you wouldn't believe." He huffs a laugh, "Not as bad as the number I did on my back, but pretty close."

"How old were you?" Mac finds himself asking.

"Huh...let's see," Jack takes another swig as he thinks about it. "Twenty three-ish? Maybe? No, twenty-one. Yeah, I remember the other guys getting excited about taking me out to get drunk for the first time."

Mac nods as he takes in the new information, his heart picking up speed as a thought begins to form in his head.

"Anyway," Jack sighs heavily. "I thought that it was reacting to another guy in my platoon, but they were all married so I never tried to...You know, 'make sure' or anything. I just carried on and the mark hadn't made much of a fuss....Until the hospital stay, but I think they had me on some strange painkillers."

"What happened at the hospital?"

"It's nothing," the brunette shrugs, pulling his wrist away. "Like I said, the drugs there were-"

"Jack, what happened at the hospital?"

The older agent looks over to his partner and is surprised to see the intent gaze sent his way.

He swallows nervously before answering, "It...tingled."

"Tingled?"

"Yes, Mac, it tingled!" Jack growls, offended and embarrassed now. "You happy now? That big brain of yours sufficiently pleased? What more do you want from me-"

Mac reaches forwards, takes Jack by the back of the neck, and brings the other man's lips to his own to kiss him.

Electricity sparks against the contact for Jack and he pushes the younger man away and he falls back from his stool, just barely remaining on his feet as he loses his grip on his drink. The bottle thuds to its side, the contents spilling onto the floor as Jack wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What the heck was that, Mac?" Jack shouts after collecting himself a little. "You don't just jump a guy! Didn't they teach you manners in the school of crazy geniuses that you attended?"

Mac puts a hand to his lips, the tingling feeling making him smile beside himself as he stares at his partner. 

It was just a simple kiss, lips on lips, but it was enough to send a shiver down the blonde's back. There was no doubt in Mac's mind now.

Jack was his soulmate.

"Get out!" Jack points towards the door. "You're acting all goofy and I don't like it. Best be on your way before you do something else one of us will regret."

"Jack," Mac keeps on smiling as he lowers his hand. "Didn't you feel that? That spark? When I kissed you, I felt-"

"You felt my lips on yours, that's all," the brunette cuts him off angrily. "Now, Get. Out."

Mac refuses to be so easily dissuaded. He stands up from his stool, but doesn't head for the door. 

Instead, he asks his soulmate, "Do you happen to know what month it was when your mark burned, Jack?"

"You must be out of your gourd," Jack huffs. "Fine! I will leave. Just text me when you skedaddle so I can come back."

Jack was closer to the door, but Mac was faster and more determined. The blonde slides around the other man, placing his hands over the door as he blocks his soulmate from leaving.

"Do you know what month?" the blonde repeats.

"I don't know!" the brunette throws his hands in the air. "It was hot, well, hot-er, so maybe in the summer time? Late June, July, or maybe even August? What does it matter?"

"Because I was born August First, 1991," Mac explains, loud enough to be heard over his soulmate's rant. "The day your mark burned could very well have been the same day. It would make sense, since I definitely felt something when I kissed you."

"No," Jack shakes his head, stepping away from his partner. "No, it can't be. It wasn't the same day. You're wrong, Mac. I shouldn't have told you."

"If you're so sure, then kiss me again."

"No way."

Mac approaches the other man as he tries to retreat, cornering the brunette in his own living room as he stares at him with determination.

"If you kiss me and I don't feel anything, then I swear I'll drop this," the blonde promises, only two steps away from the other man. "Please, Jack. This isn't just about you. I won't be able to live the rest of my life not knowing."

 

Jack's heart won't stop throwing itself at his ribs as he stares at Mac. He keeps repeating, 'It can't be true.' in his head over and over again. 

But...Mac was right. He owed it to the kid to know for sure. Soulmates were rare. He didn't want to be responsible for the kid if he lost out on finding his true love because he was foolishly pining for the wrong guy.

So Jack nods, lets Mac take those last steps to him and put his hands on his shoulders.

"I'm not your soulmate, kid," the brunette weakly states as his hands rise up to grasp the blonde's arms. 

Mac leans in instead of replying, his lips at first pressing against Jack's. Goosebumps trail up Mac's arms as he tilts his head to deepen the kiss, his tongue darting out to ask for entry.

Jack's body is trembling with the contact, sparks jolting throughout his body with every movement of the younger man's mouth against his. When the a tongue swipes against his, fire follows in its path, making him gasp and open his mouth.

Mac smiles as the other man gasps, his tongue wasting no time to pillage the other man's mouth. 

The world stops existing around the two men as they push and pull from each other. 

Mac can't control himself as he pushes his body more and more against Jack's, pinning the man to the wall as he tries to devour him whole. 

Jack is drowning in sensations as he tries to keep up with the younger man. Part of him knows his injured back is against the wall, but he doesn't feel any pain. His mind isn't even functioning properly any more. He moving purely out of instinct as he follows the other man's lead.

 

Mac pulls back first, cheeks feeling flushed as he opens his eyes to look at his soulmate.

Jack is flushed from the top of his head down his neck and beyond the collar of his shirt.

"You can't tell me you didn't feel what I felt," Mac breathes out as he tries to catch his breath. He grins wide at his partner. "We're soulmates, Jack. I can't believe it! This is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me!"

Jack reaches up with one hand and cups his soulmate's face as he stares at him. He knows he can't deny the truth. He doesn't want to either. Can't even remember why he tried to deny it in the first place.

Tears sting the brunette's eyes as he softy says, "I found you."

 

Cairo was one of their worst missions the pair had. 

But neither agent could complain about what happened afterwards.

\--- - --- -- --- - ---

**Author's Note:**

> (Just one option for "Cairo". I highly doubt this version even comes close to what the boys dealt with. I know at least three other ways a mission could have gone badly that would make this version seem like child's play.)
> 
> **I am legally inclined to state I own nothing.**


End file.
